


Small Town Flower Shop Romance

by orphan_account



Category: Free!
Genre: Flowers, Fluff, M/M, Rain, flower shop!au, makoharu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-30
Updated: 2014-04-30
Packaged: 2018-01-21 09:39:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1546202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was like being caught in a whirlpool, like you can’t control which direction you’re going, but you know exactly where you’re ending up. And I was in deep. There was something in those eyes I knew I was hurdling towards and no matter how I may try there was no way out of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Small Town Flower Shop Romance

I like living in a small town. It’s pretty quiet. Frankly I don’t care for people. Well… There is one person you could say I care for. I’m not sure that’s the right word, though. He’s one of the reasons I like living somewhere not too crowded. Every day, when I walk past his work, I get to peer in the window. No bustling people walking in front of me, no people jostling me as I linger to watch him, no excess of noise to distract me. It feels like it’s just me, him, and, unfortunately, that damn window.

It’s not like I couldn’t go in, we’ve known each other since we were children. Lately things have been… different, though.

Makoto, that’s his name, well his father decided to open up a flower shop. Makoto, being the perfect son he is, of course agreed to help out. His Mom works in an office and sometimes the hours run late, so he has to watch his twin siblings while he’s working too.

Today there’s not much business, so Makoto’s preparing a flower arrangement. The twins are talking to him about something and Makoto kneels down to their level. I’ve always thought that was pretty sweet of him, not that I’d ever admit it. They’re fighting about which flower to put in his hair and it looks like Makoto’s trying to insist he doesn’t need a flower in his hair. He ends up with a blue flower I don’t recognize. It looks surprisingly good on him. 

Suddenly his eyes reach mind. Crap, he’s caught me looking. I quickly look away and turn to walk away, but the twins noticed, too.

“Haru! Haru!” They squeal along with the bell indicating they had escaped the shop. All of a sudden they were clinging to me, spouting a jumble of overlapping words about which flower would suit me best. Normally I love these two to death, but right now I can feel the heat rising to my cheeks and I want nothing more than to get away before Mak-

“Haru-chan,” I hear that voice and I know I’m doomed. How many years has he been saying my name? So why does it suddenly feel like I want to run into his arms so he can hold me close and whisper in my ear-

I shake the thought, turning to him as much as I can with a young child hanging on each of my arms. I channel all my frustration into my face.

“Drop the ‘chan,’” I huff. Makoto just smiles and there’s something about that flower behind his ear that brings out the soft lines of his face and have his eyes always been that green? Next thing I know I’m being dragged by my arms into the shop, the twins still going on about flowers and my eyes.

“Haru’s eyes are blue so he should have the blue one!” Ran said, looking around.

“Purple goes better with blue! He should have a purple one!” Ren insisted.

“It doesn’t matter, his eyes are blue! Blue!’

“Purple!”

“Blue!”

“Purple!”

“Guys, don’t fight!” Makoto sighed. He was standing behind me and I was overwhelmingly aware of his presence.

“Don’t you think Haru’s eyes are the bluest blue, onii-chan?” Ran asked.

“Yes,” Makoto said without hesitation and I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed that he didn’t look at me to double check.

“But wouldn’t he look better with purple?” Ren asked. Makoto looked up at the ceiling and put a finger to his chin.

“Well, all of Haru’s swimsuits are purple,” Makoto mused.

“And doesn’t he look good in them?” Ren insisted. Makoto flushed a little and I felt a little bit of hope I didn’t want to feel. Friends don’t blush when asked about their friends in swimsuits, right? And boys that like girls especially don’t, right?

“Don’t trick him into saying purple is best! Let him decide!” Ran pouted. I was slightly annoyed. I wouldn’t consider myself vain, but I wanted to hear his answer. When I looked up at him again, he was looking me dead in the eyes. 

It was like being caught in a whirlpool, like you can’t control which direction you’re going, but you know exactly where you’re ending up. And I was in deep. There was something in those eyes I knew I was hurdling towards and no matter how I may try there was no way out of it. 

Makoto was the first to move, reaching to his right, but his eyes stuck to mine, staying as long as they could before he had to look at the bouquet. He plucked a green flower and reached forward to tuck it behind my ear. His fingers were warm and I wanted to lean my head into his touch as he grazed my ear. He pulled back and smiled at me like I was the most precious thing he had ever looked at.

“Haru’s eyes are the bluest blue,” Makoto said, fully of confidence though softly, as though a bit shy. “They’re like the clearest and deepest waters, and like the sky when night first comes, so vast, almost endless. It would be a shame to draw attention to anything else but those eyes. So, I think green. It compliments blue, it’s not too similar, so it doesn’t draw away any of its appeal. If anything it accentuates it.” 

Makoto smiled at me and I knew I was blushing, but I couldn’t look away even if I tried. Makoto flushed too, looking down at the shockingly silent twins. I followed his gaze to find they were covering their eyes.

“What are you guys doing?” Makoto asked and I finally exhaled the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

“You and Haru were going to kiss! Like Mom and Dad do! We don’t want to see that,” Ran said.

“N-n-n-no we-”

“Yes you were!” Ren interrupted Makoto. “You were making the same face Mom and Dad make before they kiss.”

“Hey now, we-”

“Oh, the green looks good on you, Haru,” Ran said, interrupting Makoto again. “You’re right, green looks good with blue, kind of like how you look good with Haru!”

“But onii-chan looks so good with blue,” Ren said. “I think Haru looks better with onii-chan.”

“That’s what I said,” Ran sighed.

“No, you said onii-chan looks good with Haru, I said Haru looks good with onii-chan,” Ren frowned.

“They look good together,” Ran stated. I really couldn’t take it, so I ran.

“Haru!” Makoto called after me, but I didn’t stop.

I like living in a small town. It means nobody’s there to see you when you’re running away, red-faced, tear-stained, and a flower in your hair from a beautiful boy you’ve loved all your life but were too blind to realize. The sky was stormy, but I didn’t care, I just ran, I don’t know where to. A gust of wind picked up and the flower blew out of my hair. I turned around, expecting it to be at the bottom of the stairs I had just climbed, but instead I found it in the hand of that beautiful boy I had run away from. Makoto.

Time slowed down as he made his way up the steps to me. When he reached me, I couldn’t help but notice the flower was the exact same shade as his eyes. He reached forward, placing it behind my ear. This time, I did lean into his touch. He spread his palm over my cheek and leaned forward. I closed the gap myself, reveling in the feel of his lips on mine. He smelled like flowers and his skin was warm like sunshine. I felt like I was laying in the middle of a meadow, completely at peace and so overwhelmingly in love. Rain started to pour as we kept our lips pressed together and it really couldn’t have been a more perfect kiss.

I like living in a small town. You can have your first kiss in the middle of the street. The street you walk down every day to see your love working in his little flower shop. And you get to think about that every day on your way to meet him. So when you see him, you want nothing more than to relive that moment a hundred times more.


End file.
